Battle of Attu

The Battle of Attu (11-30 May 1943) was a battle of World War II that was fought between the Allied forces of the United States and Canada and Japan during the Battle of the Aleutians campaign of 1942-1943. The Americans won the only ground battle fought on US incorporated territory during the war, as well as the only ground battle fought between the USA and Japan in Arctic conditions.

History
On 7 June 1942, an Imperial Japanese Army battalion occupied Attu in the Aleutian Islands without resistance, hoping to turn it into a strategic airbase so that it could mount aerial attacks against the US west coast. On 11 May 1943, the US 7th Infantry Division, commanded by Albert E. Brown (and later by Archibald Vincent Arnold) was sent to recapture Attu from its 2,900-strong garrison under Yasuyo Yamasaki. Yamasaki gave orders for his men to withdraw from the beaches to strong defensive positions, from which they could hold off American attacks; this tactic was replicated in the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa. This would lead to heavy American casualties as they fought for control of the Japanese trenches.

The Japanese planned to send the carriers Zuikaku, Shokaku, Junyo, and Hiyo, the battleships Musashi, Kongo, Haruna, and the cruisers Mogami, Kumano, Suzuya, Tone, Chikuma, Agano, Oyodo, and eleven destroyers from Tokyo Bay to repel the American assault, but the Americans and their Royal Canadian Air Force allies moved too quickly for the Japanese. After two weeks of fighting, the Americans were able to push the Japanese back from their positions, forcing them to withdraw to a pocket around Chichagof Harbor. On 29 May 1943, without hope of rescue, Yamasaki decided to lead his men in one of the last banzai charges of the war, breaking through the American front line positions before being held back by the rear-echelon American troops. Almost all Japanese troops died in the battle, with only 28 being taken prisoner. The Japanese were forced to evacuate the nearby island of Kiska as well, ending the Aleutians campaign.